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Brush Correctional Facility, Brush, Colorado
September 26, 2006 Fort Morgan Times
Continuation of the public hearing for CentraCore’s special
exception use permit (SEUP) took the main stage Monday at the Brush City
Council meeting as concerned citizens, representatives of CentraCore,
Cornell and GRW Corporation spoke to the council about CentraCore’s SEUP
application. Following comments from council members, officials and
citizens, Brush Assistant City Administrator Karen Schminke and staff
requested a few minor revisions to the SEUP, and Councilman Harry Rieger
moved that the public hearing be closed, and the council review the
revised SEUP during the next council meeting at 7 p.m. Oct. 9.
Recommended revisions include documentation of 1,800 beds as the
original SEUP application was for 2,250 combined beds at the two
potential facilities, and CentraCore — in light of water availability —
revised its application for 450 fewer beds, bringing the total down to
1,800. Schminke stressed the difference between the operator and the
applicant for the SEUP in order to ensure both parties adhere to the
rules and regulations. Staff is also requiring rewording of the 24-month
sunset clause for both possible facilities. The application by
CentraCore and Cornell is to build and operate two prisons in the Brush
Industrial Park, directly behind the Brush Correctional Facility (BCF)
which is owned and operated by GRW Corp. Before beginning the public
hearing, Councilman Phillip Northcutt disclosed his employment at the
BCF, and council member Chuck Schonberger, disclosed his wife, Pat
Schonberger’s, part-time employment at BCF. The council granted both
council members permission to continue in the hearing.
July 14, 2006 Honolulu Advertiser
Two Hawai'i women convicts who allege they were sexually assaulted
in a private women's prison in Colorado last year have sued Hawai'i
prison officials, the company that runs the prison and a former
corrections officer. The suit filed by Honolulu lawyer Myles Breiner in
federal District Court in Denver alleges the state of Hawai'i should
have known conditions were unsafe for the Hawai'i women inmates at Brush
Correctional Facility, and was negligent for failing to prevent the
assaults. Inmates Jacqueline Overturf, 36, and Christina Riley, 25,
reported they were assaulted in the Brush Correctional Facility law
library on the evening of Jan. 8, 2005. The inmates claim guard Russell
E. Rollison, an employee of prison operator GRW Corp., pushed one of the
women against a wall and threatened to write up both inmates for
misconduct if they did not perform a sex act for him. Breiner said one
of the inmates saved semen from the encounter that was later turned over
to investigators with the Colorado Department of Corrections. Rollison
resigned and was charged with two counts of felony sexual contact with
an inmate in a penal institution, but pleaded guilty earlier this year
to a reduced charge of menacing with a real or simulated weapon, which
is also a felony. He was sentenced last month to two years' probation
and 60 hours of community service, according to Colorado court records.
Deputy Attorney General Diane Taira declined comment because lawyers for
the state have not yet seen the lawsuit. Gil Walker, chief executive
officer of the Tennessee-based GRW, also declined comment on the lawsuit
yesterday because he had not seen it. GRW operates prisons in Colorado,
Missouri and Kansas. Brush prison officials have said the sex was
consensual and that the inmates were using the incident to get
transferred back to Hawai'i and as the basis for a lawsuit. Walker said
yesterday the prison's inquiry into the case revealed that Rollison was
"a willing participant, but we know that (the inmates) perpetrated it,
that it was planned." Breiner denied the inmates were involved in any
"enticement" of the corrections officer. "This was a deliberate criminal
conduct by a senior correctional officer against my clients. They were
raped, and it makes no difference whether they were inmates or not, they
were raped and abused," he said. The suit also alleges women who
complained they had been sexually assaulted at the prison were punished,
including Overturf and Riley. The two Hawai'i inmates were locked in
solitary confinement for 37 days, according to the suit. The allegations
of the two Hawai'i inmates became public when Colorado authorities
launched an investigation into charges of sexual misconduct involving
prison staff and a total of eight inmates from Colorado, Wyoming and
Hawai'i. Another former Brush guard, Fredrick Woller, pleaded guilty in
February to misdemeanor harassment of a Wyoming inmate and was fined
$200; and former Brush Warden Rick Soares resigned and pleaded guilty in
August to a misdemeanor false reporting charge in connection with
Woller's case. The Hawai'i inmates were moved last year from the
Colorado prison to the Otter Creek Correctional Center in Wheelwright,
Ky., which is operated by Corrections Corp. of America. Overturf was
returned to Hawai'i, where she is serving a sentence at the Women's
Community Correctional Center in Kailua for drug offenses. Riley has
been released on parole after serving prison time for theft, forgery,
burglary and fraudulent use of a credit card. Both are undergoing
counseling for the assault, Breiner said. The lawsuit does not specify
how much in monetary damages the women are seeking, but does say the
amount sought is larger than $150,000.
May 12, 2006 Journal-Advocate
Some communities may quiver at the notion a state prison will be
built in their area. Some would think a prison would bring nothing but
trouble and crime would increase in their towns. From 1999 to the
present, the city of Sterling and Logan County have not seen a
significant increase in crime, despite a state-run correctional facility
opening here in 1999, according to law enforcement officials. The
District Attorney's Office also stated the prison has not impacted its
caseload in a way that would require major adjustments on its part. "In
general, I can't say that the prison has made that much of an impact on
my office. Obviously, if we prosecute any prison case it would
constitute an increase on our normal caseload, but it is still a
relatively small percentage, and some of our higher-visibility cases
have involved inmates," 13th Judicial District Attorney Bob Watson said.
Watson said private prisons - particularly the Brush facility - had a
more significant impact on his office for which they are not receiving
any reimbursement for the cases they prosecute. "We were receiving no
such reimbursement but that is supposed to be rectified now by changed
contracts between private facilities and the state of Colorado," Watson
said.
October 13, 2005 Honolulu Advertiser
The former warden of a Colorado prison whose staff was accused of sexual
misconduct involving Hawai'i women inmates has pleaded guilty to a
misdemeanor criminal charge in connection with one of the misconduct
cases. Rick Soares resigned as warden of the privately run Brush
Correctional Facility in February shortly before Colorado authorities
announced they were investigating allegations of sexual misconduct by
staff involving eight women inmates from Hawai'i, Colorado and Wyoming.
Two corrections officers were later charged with felony sexual conduct
in a penal institution in connection with those investigations. Colorado
authorities said they could find no evidence the inmates were coerced
for sex, but even consensual sexual contact between an inmate and a
prison staff member is a felony in Colorado. Soares was later charged as
an accessory in one of the two cases for allegedly rendering assistance
to Corrections Officer Fredrick Woller "with intent to hinder,
delay or prevent" the prosecution of Woller, according to the
charge filed against Soares in Colorado's Morgan County District Court.
Woller's case, which involves alleged sexual misconduct with an inmate
from Wyoming, has been scheduled for trial on Feb. 5, Watson said. A
second former corrections officer, Russell Rollison, is scheduled to go
to trial Jan. 5 on two similar counts. Rollison is accused of sexual
misconduct involving two women inmates from Hawai'i. Both of the Hawai'i
inmates were returned to the Women's Community Correctional Center in
Kailua. The rest of the Hawai'i women serving sentences at Brush have
been moved to the Otter Creek Correctional Center in Wheelwright, Ky.
October 13, 2005 Pueblo Chieftain
The Colorado Department of Corrections has dramatically improved its
oversight of private prisons in the state, prisons officials told
lawmakers last week. In giving the Legislative Audit Committee an update
on changes it has made in how it manages the state's five private
prisons, DOC director of prison operations Nolin Renfrow told lawmakers
that all is well. That audit he was referring to was a scathing report
released in June that criticized the department for being lax in its
oversight of private prisons and ignoring problems with them for years.
Prompted by a riot at the Crowley County Correction Facility in Olney
Springs last year, the audit said DOC knew or should have known about
numerous problems concerning the operations of the prisons but did
little to nothing to correct them. The state audit said the department
diverted DOC workers whose job was to monitor private prisons to other
duties, and failed to enforce operations rules and regulations. And in
those instances when the department's private prison monitoring units
did discover problems, the department failed to follow up to ensure that
corrections were made, the audit said. Four of those facilities are
operated by the same Nashville-based company, Corrections Corporation of
American. In additional to the Crowley County facility, CCA also
operates private prisons in Bent, Huerfano and Kit Carson counties. A
fifth private facility that houses female inmates is located in Brush.
It is owned by the Brentwood, Tenn.-based GRW Corporation.
October 7, 2005 The Gazette
Private prisons in Colorado could face cash penalties for failing to
meet minimum safety standards under new contracts negotiated by the
Department of Corrections in the wake of a stinging audit. In June, an
audit of Colorado's private prisons, which house about 2,800 of
Colorado's 18,000 prisoners, found numerous problems, including
inadequate staffing levels, unlicensed medical clinics, employees with
criminal backgrounds and poor food services. Thursday, corrections
officials gave state lawmakers an update on their response to the audit.
For instance, private prisons will be fined if staffing levels do not
meet minimum standards or if the meals they feed prisoners are not up to
par. "I'm not sure the liquidated damages have enough hammer to
them," said Rep. Fran Coleman, D-Denver. Corrections officials said
they need time to see if the new penalty system works.
October 2, 2005 Honolulu Advertiser
A decade ago, Hawai'i began exporting inmates to Mainland prisons in
what was supposed to be a temporary measure to save money and relieve
overcrowding in state prisons. Now, the state doesn't seem to be able to
stop. With little public debate or study, the practice of sending
prisoners away has become a predominant feature of Hawai'i's corrections
policy, with nearly half of the state's prison population - 1,828
inmates - held in privately operated facilities in Oklahoma,
Mississippi, Arizona and Kentucky at a cost of $36 million this year.
Hawai'i already leads all other states in holding the highest percentage
of its prison population in out-of-state correctional centers, and if
Hawai'i policymakers continue on their present course, by the end of
2006 there likely will be more inmates housed in Mainland prisons than
at home. Although public safety officials say the private companies that
house Hawai'i inmates have generally done a good job, the history of
Mainland prison placements is pockmarked with reports of contract
violations, riots, drug smuggling, and allegations of sexual assaults of
women inmates. Former prisons chief Keith Kaneshiro says years in
Mainland prisons have instilled a dangerous gang culture in Hawai'i
inmates that has spread back to the Islands and will present problems
for local corrections officials for years to come. There is also concern
that inmates who are incarcerated on the Mainland lose touch with their
families, increasing the likelihood they will return to crime once they
are released. Robert Perkinson, a University of Hawai'i assistant
professor of American studies, called the state's prison policy
"completely backward." "None of this makes sense if your
goal is to make the citizens of Hawai'i safer and use your tax dollars
as effectively as you can to make the streets safer, based on the best
available research that we have," said Perkinson, who is writing a
book on the Texas prison system. Marilyn Brown, assistant professor of
sociology at UH-Hilo, said Hawai'i's out-of-state inmate transfers are a
strange throwback to corrections policies of two or three centuries ago,
when felons were banished to penal colonies in Australia or the New
World. Most of the $36 million being spent this year on out-of-state
prison accommodations will go to Corrections Corp. of America, a pioneer
in the private corrections industry. The company holds about 62,000
inmates nationwide, including about 1,750 men from Hawai'i in prisons in
Oklahoma, Arizona and Mississippi. Last week the state transferred 80
Hawai'i women inmates from a prison in Brush, Colo., owned by GRW Corp.
to Otter Creek Correctional Center, a CCA prison in Wheelwright, Ky.
Those selected for Mainland transfers generally are felons with at least
several years left on their sentences who have no major health problems
or pending court cases that would require their presence in Hawai'i.
Private prison contractors have the final say, and can reject
troublesome inmates with a history of misconduct. Ted Sakai, who ran the
state prison system from 1998 to 2002, said it will always be cheaper to
house inmates on the Mainland because of labor costs, which are
considerably lower in the rural communities where many prisons are. But
there are benefits to keeping prison jobs here, he said. In 2000, state
House Republican leaders scolded then-Gov. Ben Cayetano for proposing to
lease more prison beds on the Mainland. House Minority Leader Galen Fox
said doing so would be bad for the state's economy and the inmates'
families. An Advertiser poll of Democrats and Republicans before the
start of the Legislature's 2003 session found a majority of state
lawmakers opposed the practice. Republican Gov. Linda Lingle also has
said she is opposed to sending more prisoners away. Yet spending on
Mainland prisons has steadily increased over the past 10 years, and
politicians have failed to take action on alternatives. The Cayetano
administration explored several options for privately built or privately
operated facilities on the Big Island and O'ahu, but each proposal was
thwarted by political resistance or opposition from communities near
suggested prison sites. Lingle campaigned in 2002 on a promise to build
two 500-bed secure "treatment facilities," but three years
later, no specifics have been provided on when or where the projects
might be built. As Hawai'i's policy of out-of-state incarceration
becomes more entrenched, other states are moving in the opposite
direction. Connecticut and Wisconsin both recently brought home almost
all of their inmates who had been housed elsewhere, and Indiana returned
600 convicts from out-of-state prisons. Alabama, meanwhile, doubled the
number of convicts on parole to allow inmates to return from a
Corrections Corp. of America-run prison in Tutwiler, Miss., last year.
The vacancies at Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility were filled
by more than 700 Hawai'i inmates. Wyoming plans to open a new prison in
2007 that would allow the state to bring back 550 inmates now held out
of state, and lawmakers in Alaska last year authorized planning for a
new prison of their own.
September 29, 2005 Honolulu Advertiser
About 80 Hawai'i women prison inmates boarded an airplane in Colorado
yesterday for a trip to the small rural town of Wheelwright, Ky., where
they will be housed in a prison run by Corrections Corporation of
America. The women had been held for the past 14 months in the Brush
Correctional Facility in Brush, Colo., a private prison run by GRW Corp.
that was plagued by problems including allegations of sexual misconduct
between staff at the prison and eight inmates from three states,
including Hawai'i. The inmates are among 1,828 Hawai'i convicts who are
housed at privately run prisons on the Mainland because there is no room
for them in Hawai'i prisons. Colorado Department of Corrections
officials launched investigations into Brush Correctional Facility
earlier this year that resulted in a number of criminal charges against
staff and inmates in Colorado. Two prison employees were indicted on
charges of alleged sexual misconduct with inmates, and two more prison
workers were charged along with five inmates in connection with an
alleged cigarette-smuggling ring. Brush Warden Rick Soares resigned in
February, and was later indicted as an alleged accomplice in one of the
sexual misconduct cases. In March the Colorado Department of Corrections
revealed that five convicted felons were allowed to work at the prison
because background checks on some staff members had never been
completed. Colorado authorities later released an audit that was highly
critical of the prison, and contract monitors from Hawai'i reported the
prison failed to comply with its contract with the state in a number of
areas.
July 28, 2005 Honolulu Advertiser
They're out of sight, but must not be out of mind. Hawai'i's overflow inmate
population, housed at private prisons on the Mainland, remain our
responsibility. And making sure they are treated humanely while serving their
time must be our concern. That's why state officials are right to demand an
investigation into the sudden opening of cell doors in the predawn hours of July
17 at Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility that resulted in a riot. More
than 700 Hawai'i inmates have been housed since last year at the Mississippi
prison, owned by Corrections Corp. of America. Two inmates were injured in the
fight. Kane'ohe resident Sandra Cooper, the mother of one inmate, has her doubts
that an internal probe will be enough to bring out the truth about how the cell
doors opened. She called on the FBI to do a thorough inquiry, and that indeed
would be the ideal way to proceed here. There's precedent for the FBI to take
jurisdiction in a case where inmates are brought across state lines. At the very
least, an independent authority should drive the investigation, rather than the
prison's private owners. And state officials here must continue to ride herd to
see that the investigation proceeds to a satisfactory conclusion. In a separate
prison issue, it's a relief to see that the state has decided to pull the plug
on its contract with the troubled Brush Correctional Facility, a northeastern
Colorado prison housing 80 women inmates from Hawai'i. Because of ongoing
investigations into alleged sexual misconduct between staff and prisoners, it's
imperative that the move be made as soon as possible, while allowing for careful
scrutiny of the prisoners' next destination. The end-of-September target date
for the move seems reasonable, assuming that the state maintain its careful
monitoring of Brush in the meantime. These painful episodes clearly illustrate
that housing inmates on the Mainland is merely a short-term response to our
critical prison shortage here, and creates its own additional problems. Hawai'i
must continue to: work toward expanded prison capacity in the Islands, where we
can retain better control of conditions; strengthen the probation system to keep
some first-time offenders out of prison; and work on preventive strategies aimed
at stemming the tide in drug abuse, which fuels so much of the state's crime
problem. Sending inmates to the Mainland is just a stopgap solution.
July 27, 2005 Honolulu Advertiser
Hawai'i plans to move 80 women inmates out of a troubled private prison
in Colorado by the end of September but is unsure where they will go,
prison officials said. Hawai'i prison spokesman Michael Gaede
confirmed the state is requesting bids from facilities to house the
Hawai'i inmates and that the request in effect requires they be moved
out of the Brush Correctional Facility, a 250-bed prison in northeastern
Colorado. The Brush prison has been under close scrutiny since
Colorado authorities disclosed in February they were investigating
allegations of sexual misconduct between staff at the prison and eight
inmates from three states, including Hawai'i. Brush Warden Rick
Soares resigned in February, and was later indicted as an alleged
accomplice in one of the sexual misconduct cases. Two other prison
employees also were indicted on charges of alleged sexual misconduct
with inmates, and two more prison workers were indicted along with five
inmates in connection with an alleged cigarette smuggling ring.
Those disclosures were followed by reports in March that five convicted
felons were allowed to work at the prison because background checks on
some staff members had never been completed. Since then Hawai'i monitors have filed reports noting that the prison
failed to comply with its contract with the state in a number of areas,
and Colorado authorities released an audit that was highly critical of
the prison. Contract monitors and other reports this year cited a
litany of concerns about the prison, including: GRW for many
months used inmates to teach required rehabilitation classes to other
inmates. Colorado corrections officials repeatedly complained about the
practice, and Hawai'i contract monitors in February warned the practice
was a "serious concern" for Hawai'i as well. After the
sexual misconduct allegations were made public at Brush, virtually all
inmate rehabilitative and educational programming was shut down from
January to early June, prison officials acknowledged. That violates the
state's contract requirement that those services be offered to
inmates. Inmates and state monitors have repeatedly complained the
Brush prison was providing inadequate dental and medical care.
Brush prison officials reported in May that the facility was visited by
a doctor only once a month, and a Hawai'i contract monitor's report in
May called that staffing inadequate. Hawai'i contract monitors
also warned the facility in February that it was obliged by contract to
give inmates better access to dental care, and monitors again cited the
same problem in a follow-up inspection in May. Hawai'i monitors
complained last year the Brush prison was not conducting drug testing of
inmates that is required by contract, and once again criticized the
prison in May for not doing the required testing. A Colorado audit
released in June found the Brush prison clinic was not licensed as
required under Colorado law, a lapse that also violated the prison's
contract with Hawai'i.
June
27, 2005
CHEYENNE -- Scarcity of space and a recent sexual misconduct scandal
have prompted state officials to move the 54 prison inmates Wyoming
currently houses at private facilities in Colorado to Texas by the end
of the summer. But
by the end of 2007, Wyoming expects to have all of its prisoners housed
within the state's borders, according to Wyoming Department of
Corrections spokeswoman Melinda Brazzale. Brazzale said a lack of
available private prison space in Colorado prompted Wyoming officials to
begin consideration of moving state inmates out of Colorado. Contributing
to the decision were allegations of sexual misconduct between prison
guards and inmates at a private prison in Brush, Colo., where Wyoming
had been housing 38 female inmates. Those inmates have since been moved
out of Colorado.
June
21, 2005 Rocky Mountain News
Three states could pull their inmates from Colorado's private prisons by
the end of the summer, spooked by a recent sexual misconduct scandal and
squeezed by Colorado's own rising prisoner population. The state's five
private facilities house about 2,700 Colorado inmates. They also
contract with three other states - Hawaii, Washington and Wyoming - to
hold prisoners those states can't, due to overcrowding. The private
prisons have lost or stand to lose nearly 400 out-of-state inmates,
which would be an approximately $20,000 per-day hit spread between two
Tennessee firms who run them. State officials say they can fill the gap
with 400 Colorado inmates waiting for prison beds - contradicting
warnings the private firms sounded earlier this year - and suggest that
facilities filled only with Colorado prisoners could prove easier to
control. Corrections officials say it's easier to manage prisoners from
one state, because they are all used to the same rules. Some states, for
example allow cigarette smoking or conjugal visits, which Colorado does
not. "It is always easier to manage a single jurisdiction
population," said Alison Morgan, a corrections department
spokeswoman. Later, she said the loss of out-of-state inmates "is
not a bad thing." Officials also have said out-of- state
inmates may have fueled or contributed to two riots in the past decade,
including one at the Crowley County Correctional Facility last July.
Washington once sent more than 200 prisoners to Colorado. The state has
moved all but a few to other states, a Washington corrections official
said Monday. Wyoming will move its 54 male inmates - already down from a
high of 300 - from Colorado by summer's end, a corrections spokeswoman
there said. Wyoming has already moved 38 female inmates from a private
prison in Brush, in part because of alleged sexual misconduct between
prison guards and inmates that surfaced in February. Hawaiian officials
are rebidding their contract to house 80 women who are in Brush. Twenty-
one state lawmakers urged their governor in April to move those inmates
"immediately," the Honolulu Advertiser reported.
April 14, 2005 Honolulu Advertiser
Wyoming will remove its women inmates from a privately run Mainland
prison that also houses Hawai'i women inmates, the same prison where
staff members were accused of sexual misconduct involving Hawai'i,
Wyoming and Colorado inmates. Melinda Brazzale, spokeswoman for the
Wyoming Department of Corrections, cited a recent series of problems at
the prison in the decision to remove the Wyoming inmates from the Brush
Correctional Facility in Colorado. Those problems included criminal
charges filed against staff members and the former warden in connection
with the sexual misconduct allegations, and revelations that the prison
allowed five convicted felons to work there because their background
checks had not been completed. Investigations by Colorado state prison
officials concluded prison staff had been involved in alleged sexual
misconduct with two Hawai'i inmates, two Colorado inmates and four
Wyoming inmates. Two other members of the prison staff were charged in
an alleged cigarette smuggling ring.
March 23, 2005 Rocky Mountain
News
People with criminal records were hired to work at
a Brush prison where several employees are facing charges for allegedly
having sex with inmates, according to a CBS 4 News investigation. The
Brush Correctional Facility is a medium-security prison that holds 250
women. GRW Corp., a private company headquartered in Tennessee, runs the
prison and hired several employees with criminal records to watch over
the inmates, according to CBS 4 News. The company has fired six
employees with criminal histories so far. Four guards have resigned from
the prison, and one has been put on administrative leave. The warden,
Rick Soares, resigned Feb. 18, a month after the Department of
Corrections first received reports of sexual misconduct. Three prison
guards are facing criminal charges for allegedly having sex with seven
inmates. Two other guards and an inmate are accused of smuggling
contraband cigarettes into the facility. The list of the prison
employees with questionable backgrounds includes 28-year-old Angela
Gallegos, CBS 4 News said. A prison guard, she was arrested on a felony
charge three years ago and pleaded guilty to misdemeanor harassment.
Heather Henry, 24, was also hired as a guard. Her record includes
arrests for harassment, domestic violence-assault, violating protective
orders and child abuse. Richard Fairchild, 42, was convicted of domestic
violence and violating a restraining order. Gil Walker, president of GRW,
said these are the last people who should be working in a prison and
should have never been hired. "We don't hire questionable people,
and that's the embarrassing part," Walker told CBS 4 News. Walker
said the company never finished its background checks on potential
employees and didn't know their full histories.
March 10, 2005 Fort Morgan
Times
Morgan County District Attorney Bob Watson filed
additional charges Wednesday in connection with the prison sexual
misconduct scandal in Brush. The new indictments include a charge of
unlawful sexual conduct in a penal institution lodged against a second
guard, charges of being an accessory to a crime against the former
warden and charges against another nine current or former prison
employees related to introducing contraband cigarettes into the prison
and conspiracy to commit introduction of contraband. According to
Watson, the new charges are not necessarily all that will result from
his office's ongoing investigation of the GRW-owned private prison.
According to case filings made Wednesday in Morgan County District
Court, corrections officer Fredrick Henry Woller, 32, of Brush is
charged with unlawful sexual conduct in a penal institution, a class
five felony. Specifically, Woller is alleged to have engaged in sexual
conduct with prisoner Cristie Maez. Also charged Wednesday was former
Warden Richard "Rick" Soares Jr., 57, of Sterling, who was
allegedly an accessory to the crime of unlawful sexual conduct in a
penal institution, also a class five felony. He is accused of hindering
the investigation. The pair joins corrections officer Russell Rollison,
31, of Brush, who was charged last week with unlawful sexual conduct in
a penal institution. Other charges resulting from the criminal probe to
date regard prison food service and other prison employees allegedly
conspiring with inmates to bring cigarettes into the prison. Cigarettes
have been banned from Colorado penal institutions since 1999. Those
charged with introducing contraband in the second degree, a class six
felony, and conspiracy to commit introduction of contraband, also a
class six felony, are: Pania Akopian, 31, Pisa Tuvale, 35, Annette
Cummings, 38, Janice Crockett, 47, and Jeannette Dillon, 38, all of whom
have the Brush Correctional Facility listed as their address; Gail
Guerrero, no age listed, and Maria Ramirez, 46, both of Brush; Charmayne
Kalama, 28, of Kapolei, Hawaii, and Stannie T. Muramoto, 46, of
Honolulu, Hawaii. According to Gil Walker, CEO of Tennessee-based GRW,
which owns the 250-bed private prison, an internal investigation
uncovered only consensual sex between the guards and prisoners. Alison
Morgan, a state corrections department spokeswoman, said the DOC
investigation revealed at least some of the sex as having been initiated
by inmates. She said inmates from both Hawaii and Wyoming admitted to
initiating the encounters either so they could be returned home or in an
effort to sue the prison. However, a Hawaii attorney representing two of
the inmates has alleged his clients were raped. The case was referred to
DA Watson's office by the state corrections department's inspector
general's office. The Brush prison, which became the first private
prison for women in Colorado, opened in August, 2003. It houses 80
inmates from Hawaii, 73 from Colorado and 45 from Wyoming. Colorado pays
$50 a day to GRW to house its prisoners.
March 4, 2005 Star Bulletin
Female inmates from Hawaii will remain at a privately run women's prison
in Colorado where five officers face sexual misconduct and contraband
charges, Hawaii officials said yesterday. A visit to the prison by state
monitors last month shows Hawaii does not need to transfer its inmates
to an alternate facility, said Richard Bissen, interim director of
Hawaii's Department of Public Safety. "Incidents like this happen
at facilities," Bissen said. "But that place is being more
closely monitored than ever, and the women themselves say they are
safe." Three prison officers had sex with a total of four Hawaii
inmates, two Colorado inmates and one Wyoming inmate, according to
Alison Morgan, a spokesperson for the Colorado corrections department.
Two of the officers have resigned, and a third is on administrative
leave. Investigations show the sex was consensual, said Gil Walker,
founder and chief executive of Tennessee-based GRW, which owns the Brush
Correctional Facility for Women, located in Colorado. One case involved
two Hawaii inmates and a guard, who admitted to engaging in sexual
activity in January in the prison library. Some civil rights advocates
argue that there is no such thing as consensual sex between an inmate
and an authority figure. "We have a law that says it's a felony.
It's not consensual when someone is in custody," said Kat Brady, an
advocate with the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii. Myles
Breiner, a Honolulu lawyer who is representing the Hawaii inmates, has
said the women were forced to perform a sex act for Rollison. Morgan
said some Hawaii and Wyoming inmates admitted they believed having sex
with the guards would help them get transferred to their home states,
where they would be closer to relatives.
February 25,
2005 Denver Post
The warden resigned and five correctional officers at the privately run
Brush Correctional Facility for women face sexual misconduct and
contraband charges in the wake of a criminal probe. Warden Rick Soares
resigned from Tennessee-based GRW, which owns the 250-bed prison in
Brush, on Feb. 18 after a month-long investigation implicated the five
officers, said Alison Morgan, state Department of Corrections
spokeswoman. The warden was not implicated in the wrongdoing. The
department's inspector general's office referred contraband allegations
involving two staff members and one inmate and sexual misconduct
allegations involving three staff members to District Attorney Robert
Watson on Thursday. Three officers who were not named had sex with four
Hawaiian inmates, two Colorado inmates and one Wyoming inmate, Morgan
said. Two of the officers resigned, and a third is on administrative
leave pending the outcome of the criminal case. Some of the women
alleged they were raped, but investigators concluded the sex was
consensual, sometimes initiated by inmates, Morgan said. It's still a
felony offense for correctional officers, she said. She said some
Hawaiian and Wyoming inmates acknowledged they had sex with correctional
officers because they believed they would be returned home, where they
would be closer to relatives. Others hoped to file lawsuits against the
prison. Two officers and an inmate were caught sneaking tobacco into the
prison, Morgan said.
Colorado Department of
Corrections
June 14, 2005 Pueblo
Chieftain
The Colorado Department of Corrections has
been lax in its oversight of private prisons, and has ignored known
problems for years, according to a scathing state audit released Monday.
Prompted by a riot at a private prison in Crowley County last year, the
audit said DOC's inability to properly manage the five private
facilities operating in the state led to numerous inmate problems, and
could spark more. The audit said that the department knew about specific
problems with how private prisons were being operated, but did little to
nothing to correct them. And when the DOC did point out violations to
private facilities, it failed to ensure that they were corrected, the
audit said. "Noted violations by the private prisons are not being
addressed by the department, and have been allowed to continue
unresolved," the audit stated. "Furthermore, the department
has not instituted a systemic follow-up process to ensure that its
recommendations are follow by the private prisons or that documented
violations are corrected." The audit found that the DOC used
employees whose jobs were to monitor private prisons do other work,
failed to enforce rules and regulations on how they are to operate, and
was shoddy in how it monitored private facilities. Nolin Renfrow,
director of prison operations for DOC, admitted that the department has
made mistakes in its oversight of private prisons, but chalked it up to
inexperience. "We have over 150 years experience running our own
prisons, but only five dealing with private facilities," Renfrow
said following the audit report. "We're learning as we go."
Currently, there are five private prisons operating in the state, four
of which are owned by the same national private prison firm: Corrections
Corp. of America based in Nashville, Tenn. CCA operates facilities in
Bent, Huerfano, Crowley and Kit Carson counties. A fifth private
facility, which houses females, is located in Brush. It is operated by
GRW Corporation based in Brentwood, Tenn. Steve Owen, CCA spokesman,
said that while the audit was not about his company per se, CCA takes
its role in working with DOC seriously and will help the department
address concerns raised in the report. Still, Owen said the audit was a
little too general to help the company address specific concerns.
"We're a partner to the Department of Corrections and we view
ourselves as apart of the system," Owen said. "The conclusions
and the observations were so general for the most part, it's hard to
specifically identify what specific things apply to our direct
operations. The report doesn't lend itself to identifying specific
things to specific facilities." One part of the report, for
example, says that a mental health providers were not meeting with
seriously mental ill inmates, but didn't say at which facility. Another
section of the report, however, says that the medical staff at the Bent
County Correctional Facility in Las Animas administered two medications
to an inmate that led to his death. Another death occurred at a
different private facility in Kit Carson County when an inmate's
medication was changed. Both are operated by CCA. "We identified
two cases where physicians changed the inmates' medications without
examining them," the audit said. "Department clinical and
administrative records indicate that medication changes made by private
prison staff potentially contributed to the death of these
inmates." Owen said he knew nothing about those deaths, and
questioned whether they occurred at CCA facilities. Rep. Buffie McFadyen,
D-Pueblo West and an outspoken critic of private prisons, said the audit
supports what she's been saying all along, that they have no place in
Colorado. "These for-profit prisons would have a hard time passing
even the beginning of the Boy Scouts of America oath: 'On my honor I
will do my best,' " McFadyen said. "It's clear that the
for-profit prison industry has no desire to follow their contracts, and
it is costing taxpayers money every day. This year, the state could've
spent $ 1.1 million on heath care, job creation or tourism. Instead, we
had to spend that money to watch over private prison facilities that
aren't doing their jobs and putting the public safety at risk."
McFadyen was referring to additional money the Legislature gave to the
DOC to add positions to its private prison monitoring unit. The audit
said that the department has 15 monitoring unit positions, but that only
four were actually going to the prisons. Additionally, one of those
positions, for a unit operations manager, has been vacant for three
years. Yet, the DOC asked the Legislature for five new private prison
investigators and two additional monitoring unit workers. Renfrow said
that cuts to the department's overall budget in recent years forced it
to use some of those workers for other duties. The audit said that the
monitoring units that did visit facilities missed numerous required
inspections and filed incomplete reports. Auditors were particularly
alarmed that the units failed to conduct the security and emergency
activation drills it was suppose to, particularly one at the Crowley
County facility at which a riot occurred last summer. "Of
particular concern, we noted that the monitoring unit had never
conducted an emergency activation drill at the one private prison that
experienced a riot in July 2004, and only produced monitoring reports
for one-third of the targeted weekly inspections at this facility during
fiscal year 2004," the audit said. "Additionally, we
identified several weekly inspection reports and security audits that
appeared to copy the findings from prior inspection reports, changing
only the date and time of the audit work performed," the audit
said. "Department management does not review these reports, so
management was not aware that the reports contained errors."
June
14, 2005 Colorado Springs Gazette
Two Colorado inmates died last year because
their prescription medications were changed by unlicensed medical
clinics in private prisons, according to a stinging audit that charged
the state with lax oversight of an out-of-control private prison system.
The Colorado Department of Corrections houses about 2,800 of its 18,000
inmates in six private prisons. Five are in Colorado, and one is in
Missouri. It cost taxpayers $53 million in 2004. An audit of those
prisons released Monday found numerous problems: inadequate staffing
levels, unlicensed medical clinics, employees with criminal backgrounds,
poor food services and more. The audit laid much of the fault with the
state corrections officials, saying the state did a shabby job of
monitoring and enforcing standards in private prisons. The state’s
private prison monitoring unit has been plagued by job vacancies and
only spends a fraction of the time it should at the prisons evaluating
conditions and addressing problems, the audit found. “I think, from
our audit perspective, we identified substantial compliance issues,”
said Cindi Stetson, the deputy state auditor who managed the project.
For instance, the audit found that private prison monitors filed reports
that were copies of old documents that merely had a new date. Top level
managers reportedly didn’t review private prison reports anyway.
Additionally, not all the people assigned to monitor private prisons
were doing that. Fifteen employees were allocated to that unit, but four
were assigned to other duties and the key unit manager job was left
vacant for three years. Corrections officials said they have not done a
good job regulating private prisons but insisted they are taking steps
to fix the problem. “We’ve taken the recommendations very seriously,”
said Nolin Renfrow, director of prisons. “We feel confident we are
headed in the right direction.” Renfrow said staffing has been beefed
up in the office and that computers will track compliance reports.
Additionally, he said top executives will pay closer attention to
private prisons. As to the specific problems, DOC officials say they are
tightening the contracts with private prison providers to force them to
take care of the issues. Many of those new contracts take effect July 1.
New stipulations will require private prisons have a licensed medical
clinic. That’s a response to one of the main findings in the audit.
“None of the clinics in Colorado’s five private prisons are
licensed,” said auditor John Conley. “Since the clinics are not
licensed, they are not monitoring them and are not aware of any deaths
or problems at private prisons.” Nine deaths at private prisons last
year were not reported to the Colorado Department of Health, as they
should have been, the auditors said. So there was no investigation. The
auditors said seven of the deaths were from natural causes, but two were
linked to medical complications after prison operators changed
prescription drugs. No other details were provided. The findings
outraged lawmakers. “Obviously, they have been having a free-for-all
in practicing medicine the way they wish for a long time,” said Sen.
Deanna Hanna, D-Lakewood. “We are paying a lot of money to these
private prisons for health care, and we need to get a better product
than we are getting.” The audit found problems in many private prison
practices, including their hiring standards, the nutritional value of
their food and their staffing levels. The audit didn’t specify which
private prisons were having the most problems. But four of the five
prisons in Colorado are owned and run by the Tennessee-based Correction
Corporation of America. Company officials said they are reviewing the
audit and promised more efficiency and accountability. “We certainly
would embrace that goal and have been working and will continue to work
with our customer, the Department of Corrections, to enhance both of
those,” said Steven Owen, a spokesman for the firm. A 500-bed,
privately run prison under construction on East Las Vegas Street near
the El Paso County Criminal Justice Center is scheduled to open in
August. The medium security facility will be operated by New
Jersey-based Community Education Centers. The prison, called the
Cheyenne Mountain Pre-release Center, will house parole violators and
inmates making the transition into society or to community corrections
after serving state prison sentences. Its purpose is to reduce
recidivism by giving inmates about 180 days of vocational training, drug
and alcohol counseling, adult education classes and other last-minute
lessons they can apply outside prison. Joe Ortiz, executive director of
the Colorado Department of Corrections, said part of his agency’s
problem is funding. “When we talk about medical, we talk about food,
we talk about programs . . . that always comes with a price tag,” he
said. “That’s not to say the department hasn’t been remiss in some
areas, but it is a difficult mission, and it is difficult to provide all
of these services given the current budget conditions.” The department’s
budget was cut during the recession but has seen much of that funding
restored in the past two years. The approved budget for the 2005-06
fiscal year, which starts July 1, is $589.2 million, a 6 percent
increase. Lawmakers say they will take a hard look at the issues
surrounding private prisons. “It’s clear that the for-profit prison
industry has no desire to follow their contracts, and it is costing
taxpayers money every day,” said Rep. Liane “Buffie” McFadyen,
D-Pueblo West. KEY FINDINGS - None of the clinics at private prisons are
licensed with the state. At least two inmates who were treated in those
clinics died last year when their prescriptions were changed. Those
deaths were not reported to state officials. - Inmates with serious
mental illnesses were not seen by mental health staff in a timely
manner. - Private prisons are serving meals that do not meet the state’s
dietary standards. - The DOC doesn’t review staffing patterns at
private prisons as part of their contracts. - Some private prison
employees have questionable backgrounds, including some who have been
convicted of violent crimes. In some instances, private prison employees
begin working before a background check is completed. - Private prisons
are not properly deducting court-ordered inmate restitution and child
support. - The Department of Corrections office charged with monitoring
private prisons was understaffed and didn’t get the job done. -
Dangerous inmates were sent to some private prisons even though state
law stipulates private prisons should only house medium security
prisoners and lower.
June
14, 2005 Denver Post
Privately owned prisons in Colorado fall far
short of minimum safety and medical standards, possibly resulting in the
deaths of two inmates and the early release of a sex offender, according
to an audit released Monday. Part of the problem, the report from the
state auditor's office said, is lax state oversight of the private
prisons, which collected $53 million to house 2,800 inmates in 2004. The
audit's key findings: Nine inmates
died between January 2001 and September 2004. Two of those deaths may
have been caused by physicians who changed medications without
physically examining the inmates. A
sexual offender was released from prison three months early because
officials awarded him credits for treatment sessions he didn't attend.
None of the five private prisons in Colorado have licensed
medical clinics. Four
private-prison employees had previous convictions for motor-vehicle
theft, assault, criminal mischief and harassment. Staffing
levels are lower at private prisons than at state institutions, with the
worst ratio at the Crowley County prison, where inmates rioted last
year. Steve Owen, spokesman for
Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections Corporation of America, which
operates four of the five private prisons in Colorado, declined to
comment on the audit, saying he had not yet read it. But he said his
company meets the standards set by a national trade association for
private prisons. "We are doing our part to help the state be good
stewards of the taxpayers' dollar," said Owen.
Joplin City Jail, Joplin, Missouri
May 14, 2007 Joplin Globe
A Joplin city jail inmate is dead after he was found hanging from
the ceiling of the jail about 7:34 a.m. today. According to Lt. Geoff
Jones of the police department, attempts to revive the man were
unsuccessful. He was being held in a two-person cell by himself awaiting
court in Joplin and possible extradition to Greene County. Detectives
with the Joplin Police Department are investigating the death and an
autopsy is scheduled for later today. The name of the vicitm is being
withheld pending notification of family members. The Joplin City Jail is
operated by GRW Corporation, a private security company. Jones said this
is the first in-custody death at the Joplin jail since 1997, when GRW
took over day-to-day operations.
Labette Correctional Conservation Camp,
Labette County, Kansas
February 27, 2007 Parsons Sun
Some employees of the Labette Correctional Conservation Camp women's
facility lost vacation time when the facility was transferred to county
management on Feb. 1, but county commissioners say it isn't their fault.
On Monday, commissioners met with LCCC administrators to discuss the
situation. County Commissioner Jerry Carson said the situations at the
men's and women's camps are different because the county has never
operated the women's camp directly. Labette County created the boot-camp
style facility in the early '90s and has held responsibility for
operating it. The camp has always been operated by a private management
firm until now, however. The women's camp was created by the Kansas
Department of Corrections a few years later. KDOC hired the same company
to operate the facility and the two have operated in concert. However,
Carson said the differences translate into employees at the women's camp
losing leave time. Carson pointed the finger at GRW Corp., the
Tennessee-based management firm that ran the facilities. Carson said he
thought there was a "gentleman's agreement" with GRW to honor the
vacation time. Carson said he would be willing to meet with camp
employees and explain the situation to them. Commissioner Lonie Addis
agreed with that assessment of the situation but said he didn't like it.
"The simple fact is it's still not fair," Addis said. Commissioners also
discussed setting up times to meet with camp employees to discuss the
county's personnel policy. The county has revised the policy in order to
include camp employees.
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